Fluid control device



Jan. 3, 1933. M. l. Mlx ET AL FLUID CONTROL DEVICE Filed July 8, 1929 Patented Jan. 3, `1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MARTIN I. MIX AND IIIRAM n. nain, or cnIcAGo, ILLINOIS FLUID coN'TnoL DnvIcE Application led July 8,

ur invention relates kgenerally to 4a fluid control device and more particularly to Vsuch a. device for a gas laundry stove in an apartment building, which stove is for the use oi' all the tenants in the building and which may draw gas from any one of the individual tenant gas lines.

In the present system of piping in apartment buildings, Veach apartment is supplied by a line leading from the Vmain in which line there isa meter cock anda meter, controlling and registering the amount of lgas used by each tenant. From each one of these tenant lines, a branch line provided with a. lock valve leads to `a common header vfor the laundry stove so that each tenant may use the -stove but use only his -own gas But such a system is subject to abuse should any tenant fail to lock the valve in -his branch line. When such failure occurs, it is possible for one of the 'other tenants by 'Ilr'ianipulatingV the control valves in a manner hereinafter set forth to use gas lio-wing through the meter of the iirst mentioned tenant not only for his use in the laundry stove but also in his apartment. Also there is an `element of danger 'in the present system if, ina vacantv apartment, the gas pipe is uncapped and the lockvalve in the branch line for that apartment to the laundry stove is left unlocked and open; for, under these conditions, when another tenant opens his lock valve in order to use the laundry stove, gas may pass into the vacant apartment.

The general object of this invention is to provide a fluid control device connected to a plurality of lines supplying a gas laundry stove, or the like, and permitting only one of said lines to supply gas to the stove at a time, the other lines being automatically closed when the one line is open.

Another object of the invention is to provide a valve device having an outlet passage, a plurality of inlet passages, and means permitting only one of said inlet passages to be connected with said outlet passage at a time.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

1929. Serial No. 376,763.

ous modications and alternative constructions, we have shown in the drawing and will herein describe in detail the Apreferred embodiment, but it is to be understood that we do not thereby intend to limit .the invention to the specific form disclosed, but'int'end to cover all modifications and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope f of the invention as expressed in the appended Claims In Figure l there is illustrated diagrammatica-lly a system of'piping to be used in connection with the present device which, for convenience, will be called the new system while thesystem previously used, which includes a part 4oi" the new system and that shown in broken lines, will be called the old system.

i In both systems, from the main A delivering gas into the building, lines B1, B2, and B3 branch off to supply the various apartments. individually. In each oi. these lines are placed meter cocks C1, G2, and C3 and meters D1., D2., and D3 registering the amount of gas used in each: apartment. From the meters, branch lines El, -Eand E3 lead to each apartment, as indicated by the arrows, and they also have `leads F1, F2, and F3 running to the laundry to supply a', laundry stove G. Individually locked Vvalves H1, H?, and H3 are placed vin the leads F1, F2, and F3 so that each tenant vcan prevent any unauthorized use of his gas'. This much lof the piping is common to both systems.

In ythe old system below these valves the leads joined into a-common header I leading directly to the laundry stove-G.

But this system was subject to abuse and might cause a dangerous Vcondition to exist if any of the valves H1, etc., were lef-t unlocked. For example, assume that the valve H1 were left unlocked. `In such event, an unscrupulous tenant in an apartment connected with the line E2 could open both the valves H1 and H2 and thereby permit access from the lead F1 to the lead F2 through the header I. Then by restricting the flow of gas through the meter D2 by wholly or partially closing the meter cock G2, the tenant could then draw gas into his apartment connected with the line E2 through the meter D1, the path from the meter D1 being through the lead F2, the valve H1, the header I, the valve H2, the lead F2 and thence to the apartment connected with the line E2. In case of a. partial restriction of the meter cock, this abuse could go on indeiinitely without detection.

The dangerous condition occurs when, in a vacant apartment, an outlet is left uncapped as when the kitchen stove is removed. To illustrate, assume that, in a vacant apartment Connected with the line E2, there is an uncapped pipeand that the valve H2 was accidently opened, the meter cock C2 being closed. Then assume that the tenant in the apartment connected with the line E3 attempts to use the laundry stove G. He opens the valve H3 to permit gas to flow to the stove, but, in

so doing, the gas can also flow through the header I, the valve H2, the lead F2 and up into the vacant apartment connected with the line E2 through the uncapped pipe.

To obviate these evils, we provide a fluid control device comprising generally a memb er providing` passages from the branch lines to the stove, and means permitting a flow of gas through said passages to the stove from only one of the branch lines at a time. In the present instance, a body member is provided with a plurality of inlet passages 11 lying in one plane and an outlet passage 12 lying in a different plane than that of the inlet passages 11. The inlet passages 11 are connected to the leads F2, F2, and F3 respectively, the number of such leads and passages depending upon the number of apartments for which the stove G is to be used. The outlet passage 12 is connected with the stove. A circular chamber 18 is formed in the body member 10 which communicates with all of the passages.

As mentioned above, the invention includes means permitting a iow of gas through said passages to the stove from only one of the branch lines at a time. In the present embodiment, this means comprises a circular valve member 14 rotatably mounted in the chamber 13 and itting snugly against the walls thereof. An annular groove is cut in the valve member 14 in the plane of the outlet passage 12 and a longitudinal groove 16 is cut therein extending from the annular groove 15 to the plane of the inlet passages 11, the width of the groove 16 being less than the distance between two adjacent inlet passages 11 measured along the wall of the chamber 13. Thus, the grooves 15 and 16 form a path whereby gas may flow from any inlet passage, opposite which the longitudinal groove 16 is positioned, to the outlet passage 12.

A handle 17 is formed on the end of the valve member 14 so that it may be conveniently located and a pointer 18 or other indicator may be formed on an external portion of the valve member 14 to indicate the position ci' the longitudinal groove 16.

In operation, it is apparent that no two of the leads F2, F2, or F3 may be connected, as gas from only one of them may pass to the laundry stove at a time. Thus, the evils mentioned above are entirely obviated even though one of the lock valves should accidentally be left unlocked.

IVe claim as our invention:

1. A gas control device for a laundry stove to which gas may be supplied from a plurality of branch lines comprising, in combination, a body member having a plurality of inlet passages and an outlet passage, the latter being connected with the stove, a valve member operable in said body member permitting only one of said inlet passages to be connected with said outlet passage at a time and closing off each ot the other inlet passages one from another, a plurality of pipes respectively connecting said inlet passages with said branch lines, and a plurality of individually locked valves respectively mounted in said pipes for separately closing each of said pipes against flow of gas therethrough.

2. A. control device for a gas appliance to which gas may be supplied from a plurality of branch lines comprising, in combination, a plurality of lock valves respectively connected to said branch lines, and means c011- necting said lock valves to the appliance, said means including a valve permitting gas to iiow to the appliance from only one of said lock valves at av time and closing oli each of the other lock valves one from another.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto atiXed our signatures.

HIRAM E. HEIL. MARTIN I. MIX. 

